


Dead End Job

by KGoblin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Captivity, Disabled Character, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Interrogation, Muteness, POV First Person, Scopophobia, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28837197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KGoblin/pseuds/KGoblin
Summary: OC-4154 was a stormtrooper, captured by the Rebels for interrogation.
Kudos: 3





	Dead End Job

The stormtrooper yawned himself awake in his cell, which had actually began it's history as a passenger suite onboard a cruise liner before the ship had been converted into use as a personnel transport for the Rebellion. I watched him from through the viewport we'd installed in one of the walls, into the adjacent suite. It was my job to learn what information he held, if any, and why he had stayed with Moff Aline after the Empire was defeated. We'd been seeing less and less Imperial Forces in the past six years since the Second Death Star and Operation Cinder, so finding the Moff's hideout on Murkhana was quite the surprise. The stormtrooper before me was one of the few who had surrendered without a fight, and had seemed the most amenable save for his lack of speech and a marked fear of removing his helmet. Once his equipment was inspected and it was confirmed that there was nothing that could record or transmit information in the helmet, I had deemed it acceptable to return it to the man. I continued eating my breakfast ration as the stormtrooper got up, putting on the helmet by his bedside and making his way to the desk on his side of the viewport, where his own meal was sitting, hopefully still warm.

"Good morning, OC-4154," I said, as the trooper took his seat, "Slept well, I assume?"

The trooper nodded after a moment, tilting up his helmet just enough to eat a spoonful of his ration. He only took the thing off for sleep, as far as I had seen, though of course I didn't know what he did in the refresher.

"Any chance I'll get to learn your real name today?" I asked, taking a bite of my own meal. The trooper quickly shook his head, as usual. I simply shrugged, having expected that answer.

"You know you can use sign language if that's easier than typing everything out on a datapad," I said, "I mean, I'm assuming you know it since you haven't spoken yet. My sister was mute, and she did all her communicating with signing." The trooper's expression was impossible to read through the helmet, but the slight tilt of it made me think he was considering it.

"If you don't know and want to learn, I can arrange for us to bring in a teacher." That got a definite no from the trooper. Still too wary around unknown folks, it seemed. It had taken me three weeks to get him used to just me and CH37, so I kind of expected it. I just went back to my food, watching occasionally as the trooper did the same. He was certainly a mystery, as he wasn't at all hostile to us or his Imperial cohorts, but he definitely wasn't comfortable around anyone he didn't know. Ship alarms also seemed to terrify him entirely, as I'd discovered when we flew too close to an asteroid field a few days before and took some hull damage. That pilot hasn't flown the ship since, thankfully.

"Are you ready to begin?" I asked, a few minutes after we'd both finished our meals. The trooper nodded, grabbing the datapad from the little shelf above his cot. I grabbed my own, which was connected to his via a simple comm connection. I could see everything he typed, and vice versa. I watched the screen as he began typing up what information he could recall today. Mostly low level security information, which made sense considering his role as a maintenance level guard, but still somewhat helpful. Today was specs regarding the standard reactor used to power Imperial storage facilities. I smiled to myself at the sight, this was the most important stuff he'd provided so far. A few more things like this and it would be child's play to convince Captain Teljkon to give the trooper a pardon and an offer to join the New Republic.

Before I knew it, the door to the trooper's room slid open, and CH37 rolled in with a tray of food. I checked the time and was surprised to see that it was already midday.

"Well, this morning just flew by," I said, mostly to myself.

"Ya gotta eat all the food I bring ya, boss," CH37 scolded, as he rolled through to my room with another tray, "Otherwise yer gonna wither away ta nuthin!" I rolled my eyes, taking his tray with a smile.

"I will, Chet, promise. What is it you brought us today?"

"Oh, thissun's a great bite, boss," CH37 said, "It's a classic lobfish etouffee, with a side a' Nubian ghostcorn on the cob and Corellian potatoes." I gave a glance to the side, to see the trooper wolfing down his helping of the stuff.

"Well, looks like you found our friend's new favorite meal," I said, chuckling as I started to dig into my own, "Thanks, Chet."

"Always happy to feed folks, boss!" the cooking droid replied, rolling out of the room.

The rest of the day was much the same, with myself reading through what the trooper typed up, and one more meal from CH37 to finish the day off. Though something unusual did happen near the end. I was cleaning up what mess there was after our dinner meal when my datapad lit up. I looked over to the trooper, but it didn't seem like he had been using his datapad. I grabbed mine to check what had happened, only to see that he had actually added a note onto the end of the day's information.

"My name is Calvus Teccone," he had typed. Simple, a tidbit of information that meant nothing, militarily. But I smiled. The man was finally warming to the Republic, it seemed. I went to bed as usual, looking forward to the days ahead.


End file.
